Steve Dobson

Name: Steve Dobson

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Grade: 11th

School: Cochise High School

Hobbies and Interests: Reading, history, watching and discussing anime

Appearance: Steve is on the round side of average at 5'8" and 160 lbs. He has naturally light skin with a bit of a tan in the warmer months, and his hair sits on the edge between brown and blond. His face is oval, with deep-set brown eyes and a short nose. He doesn't stick to one hairstyle, but typically lets it grow out before cutting it short and repeating. He lacks the ability to grow significant facial hair, but his lackadaisical attitude about shaving means that his chin and lip are often somewhat fuzzy.

His dress code is defined mostly by the words casual and comfortable. He's worn the same style of tennis shoes in different sizes for years, generally accompanied by a t-shirt and shorts or jeans depending on the weather. On the day of the abduction, he was wearing cargo shorts, a black-and-grey striped t-shirt, and a forest-green jacket emblazoned with the Survey Corps insignia from Attack on Titan across the back.

Biography: Steve was born in Kingman on March 22nd, 1998. Steve is the second of two children, four years the junior of his brother Chris. His mother Louisa is occupied full time as a stay-at-home mom, while while his father Mark has made a career in the police force. Each of his family members would have a profound impact on Steve as he grew older.

From his mother, Steve found a love for books, movies, and stories of any sort. Steve has always been an active child, pouring his enthusiasm into one thing and then discarding it just as quickly for the next. Rowdy as he was, he was always glad to climb into his mother's lap while she read something out loud to him, and it was one of the only ways he could stay still for more than a few moments.

Steve's father instilled him with a strong sense of justice. In addition to his active efforts to warn his children against the pitfalls he saw people falling into every day, Mark's interactions with his son, as with everything else in his life, were filtered through the lens of his career. It was hard to escape the fact that a central authority and provider in his life was occupied with more general enforcement of law and order and justice. As a child, this meant awestruck devotion and sometimes a source of inherited moral superiority amongst his peers. As he grew older and looked at things with more nuance, he still kept his father's occupation in the back of his mind when he was faced with all the sorts of bad decisions a highschooler might make.

Chris, four years Steve's senior, served as a combination friend and mentor for his sibling. To Steve, Chris was everything he could ever aspire to be: fun, strong, and wise to the ways of the world. Chris was outgoing and Steve fell in behind him, and Steve's ever-presence even gained him some acceptance into Chris' circle of friends. While he enjoyed their company as well, the age gap prevented them from ever becoming truly close. Still, for most of Steve's childhood and adolescence, his web of acquaintances spread wide, but his truest friend was his own brother.

It was Chris who turned Steve specifically into the world of anime by turning the TV to Pokemon or Dragon Ball Z as his Saturday morning cartoons of choice. There was a certain flair and energy to the animation and storylines that nothing else could match. A favorite weekend pastime for the brothers as thew grew older was sneaking out of bed or staying up late to catch the late-night Toonami block.

Steve's entrance into elementary school was fairly typical. He was sharp enough at subjects he put his attention into, but didn't show any particular proclivities for any subject except for reading. Learning to read was, to him, one of the greatest treasures of schooling, as he no longer had to rely on his brother or mother to tear through any book he could get his hands on, and it helped that unlimited access to literature was given out more freely than TV time.

As he moved into middle school and grades became more important, he felt pressure both from his parents' active encouragement and Chris' passive example to maintain honor roll status, expectations which he has generally met but not exceeded. Passing has never been much of a concern, but he takes a piecemeal approach to homework and does noticeably worse in classes like math that are heavy on rote memorization. His academic performance also varies significantly from year to year within the same subject, rising or falling depending less on how competently his teachers teach and more on how well he manages to connect with them.

The transition into high school was a major rough patch in Steve's life. Chris, along with the friends, were now off attending college. With his greatest friend and role model no longer physically present, Steve withdrew socially and floundered academically. He threw himself fully into psychological anime and stories with deeper or darker themes to indulge his sense of loss. Now with the age and education and precisely articulate his views, he turned to discussions on the internet, and then, gradually, more and more often with real-life friends and acquaintances. The recovery was far from immediate, but as the days went by, with with support from his parents and family physician, his hobby became an outlet for confidence and recovery. He joined the school's anime club, made an effort to connect with his peers, and began turning out essays and blogs on his favorite and least-favorite shows.

A more recent development for Steve is a curiosity for the historical. This started one day when, searching for some background noise to for his homework, he put on a Roman history podcast on a whim. He found himself enjoying it immensely despite his expectations. The stories of the great empire and the larger-than-life figures who shaped it were as rich and dramatic as any fiction.

Overall, his junior year has been an upswing for Steve. He continues to branch out with his friends and with his classwork, and his evolving interests have even given him the impetus improved his grades. He's even grown closer with his brother, having formed a two-man watch group for seasonal anime and some other media besides.

Advantages: While not exceptionally strong, Steve is bulky and solid physically. His network of acquaintances is broad and leaves him with few, if any, enemies right out of the gate.

Disadvantages: Steve is not used to any conflict outside friendly debates. He also has a strong, inflexible sense of right and wrong that may prevent him from adapting or taking a more pragmatic approach to survival.

Designated Number: Male student no. 044

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Designated Weapon: Sickle

Conclusion: I see you enjoy history, B044. That's good; you should know that the sickle has strong ties with many civilizations throughout history. Those civilizations also fell. What is it that they say... history often tends to repeat itself? - Abby Soto

'The above biography is as written by Rattlesnake. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Rattlesnake

Kills: None

Killed By: Isabel Ramirez

Collected Weapons: Sickle (assigned weapon, to Isabel Ramirez)

Allies: None

Enemies: Isabel Ramirez

Mid-game Evaluation: Steve awoke near Bradley Floyd on the docks, but was distracted by his thoughts and surprised when Bradley first spoke. Alba Reyes and Bryony Adams arrived shortly afterward, further spooking Steve. He was too suspicious of the others to feel safe, especially considering Bradley's assigned gun, and he elected to sneak away from the scene.

By Day 3 Steve found himself contemplating the view from the helipad, mostly inert and not bothered by the announcements of that morning. He was attacked by Isabel Ramirez, she took him by surprise and kicked him off the helipad. He fell onto his legs, breaking them, and lost his weapon. The pain was too much for him to recover from, or to plan much at all as Isabel closed in on him to finish the job. Isabel quickly made it clear that her intent was to torture him, and she started to do so with mocking leisureliness, slowly slicing apart his abdomen. The pain almost stopped Steve's ability to rationally fight back, but he managed to hold himself together long enough to defy Isabel and lash out, kicking her back with what was left of his limbs so he could grab the scythe and kill himself. He stabbed himself in the throat but didn't immediately lose consciousness. Angered by Steve's defiance and her inability to draw out his death, Isabel stabbed him in the head with her halberd, killing him mid-thought.

Post-Game Evaluation: His defiance of inhumane cruelty was truly inspiring. I hope others will find the heart to follow his example. - Boris Petrikov

Memorable Quotes: "I don't suppose (...) you're here to help?" -- To Isabel, after she has already kicked him off the helipad and severely wounded and crippled him.

"Unoriginal." -- His opinion of Isabel's torture attempts, and the last thing he ever says.

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Steve, in chronological order.

V6:
 * The Gadfly Cometh
 * TFW you will never find out what's in the basement

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Steve Dobson. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''


 * I never really knew what to make of Steve as a character. Steve was a controversial character due to being submitted after the applications for v6 closed. This had only been a few minutes after the close of applications, and I was later told by staff that anyone would have been allowed through if they'd been trying to submit so shortly after closure, but the controversy over it still affected my opinions on the character. After that, almost nothing was done with him, and he was foddered off almost immediately. That honestly felt wasteful, to me, and I was left wondering what the point had been. It's a shame to see a handler who has written good things before turn out something so low-effort. Theburnthandler (talk) 22:08, December 20, 2016 (UTC)